Of Balloons and Dreams
Of Balloons and Dreams
There is a place that is mystical when you are in the dream
that is so very real. Time stands still
in the real world and you are in a bubble of the “not this world” that is
outside of time. Perhaps older or
perhaps younger, faster in process or standing still, but not part of this the
current time and space. When you become
fully engaged in your dream it is a place of immersion and all that you see and
hear is a part of this dream.
There is a place in a hot air balloon that is curiously the
same; immersed. There is no wind, time
stands still. While a part of the world
you are outside of it. While visible, you are somehow disconnected and
observing but not participating.
Curious, but what a view…
What is it about your dreams that involve your vocation,
your avocation, and your place in time that has no wind. There is only the “now” of the complete
immersion. Disconnected from all other
stimuli, but fully absorbed into the moment. You have entered the “zone”. Not exactly the twilight version, but it is
an altered state of being. Time ceases
to be something that you recognize, exactly, like everyone else.
Like a dream the balloon cannot not be steered as much as
nudged and guided and coaxed into a direction and a landing that you will accept,
rather than the one you “wanted”. Your
career, your children’s lives, your hopes.
Until you fully let go of the land and allow the balloon to rise to the
occasion you will be torn by the “fears” and the “what ifs” and you will never
know the immersion. Knowing that “this
thing can come down and at times hard” will keep some from letting go of the
tethers and some from getting in at all.
The wind will blow, and it will be faced or at your back, but in the air
there is no wind against or for you, you are in it. You can rise or lower to catch a current that
is a different speed or direction, but you are still “in the moment”. You are where you are. Different people describe this place in
different terms, but the place is still the same; otherworldly. The actor on stage, the player on the court
or field, the finance trader on the floor of the exchange, or the mom in the
rocker with the newborn… immersed. The
dream and the balloon and the place that they meet. Not here. Fully here.
Complete. At once absorbed and
suspended. Like a diver in the sea,
buoyant. At one with the surroundings. A
fish in water doesn’t know it is wet… it just is.
Fully aware of the risks and that gravity happens to us all,
the ones that take the ride are called several things, including some that
cannot be shared in polite company, but they are the ones that change the
trajectory of life. For themselves if
not for their families and others as well.
Not that they are invincible but that they try “again”. Letting go of
the tethers and the extra baggage and the encumbrances that so easily beset us.
Fully aware of one other thing; others.
The ground team that cleans up after you take off. The ones that follow you around waiting for
you to get closer to land, and then risk their safety to grab ahold and secure
you back to the earth with hugs and tales of the vistas. This is the team that holds on when the winds
are a bit stronger than expected and the landing was a bit more complicated
than you thought it would be. They run
across the pastures and the dessert to meet you at the point of impact. Fold up the balloon and hoist it into the
trailer for the ride back. The team that
stays behind. That lets others ride. Is
not out for their own story but the story of another. These are the heroes in the shadows. They get the game into action and bring some
chairs and a glass of water. They are
the unsung, in this dream. They may have
a dream of their own, but it may be simply to be part of the “pit crew”.
This is the twist that needs to be accepted. The “pit crew” can be the dream of one that
is with you. It is true that they may
indeed be settling. They may be afraid
or inhibited or living the lie that someone else told them. “You are the support and not the leader” and
it may be wrong. Or it may be wrong here
and now. Later and on a different team
or task it will be their dream. It can
be messy leaving the “here” for the “there” of your own dream. All dreamers have detractors. They all need a “ground crew”. Able bodies and mentors, both are
needed. Balloon folders and map readers
helping plan the next adventure. There
will, of course, be another adventure.
The ones that “make the thing work” are the ones that need a
bit of attention from time to time. The
maid at the hotel, the clerk at the register, the one that mows the lawn or
cleans the kennel. They do a task that
frees you to do your desire. A token of
appreciation is the grease that keeps the machine running well. A card of thanks or simple acknowledgement of
the thing they like to do anyway says that you noticed, and they exist. It makes a difference. You would like it as well, if you gave it a
thought…
Everyone knows the driver of the racecar but not the pit
crew leader or the tire changer guy, until they fail… Perhaps it is the role of
the failure to bring to life the reality that they had been taken for
granted. Take a moment and reflect on
the amount that you pay attention to the “do-er” types in your life. The ones that tend to your grandma in the
care facility or the one that mows the grass at the grave yard. We all expect it to be done and think little
of that “ground crew” that does their tasks, until it fails to get done. We are all busy, but so is the ground
crew. It is a simple bit of curiosity
that makes this shift into the world of appreciation and the acknowledgment thereof.
It is the simple things, after all.
When I was in third grade we were learning to write
letters. Our teacher had us write one to
ourselves and she would send it to us in the mail. The idea is that we would get a note from our
past to us someday in the future.
Perhaps you might try the exercise now, so you might know what it is
like to get some “fan mail” instead of simple bills and junk mail. Get a nice card or stationary. Write a note of appreciation and acknowledge
a few things that you do well. Tell
yourself that you have good things to know about you. Sometimes we are our best “ground crew”. That always shows up at the crash and helps
to pick ourselves up, fold the balloon and set out on the next dream… Look at that view !
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